EncorEstate Plans

We guarantee you'll get a laugh while learning about estate planning

Whenever we see a new piece from Mark Tenenbaum, Ph.D. or David Haughton, JD, CPWA® on Kitces.com, we bookmark it to read later. But when we saw they wrote a joint piece on charging for estate planning, we jumped on it faster than The Sugarhill Gang. Highly, highly, highly recommend reading their Kitces article if you're not sure how to / if you should charge for estate planning. Both Tenenbaum and Haughton do an excellent job: 4️⃣ Outlining the 4 most common ways to charge clients for estate planning, and their pros/cons. 💰 Presenting considerations for which charging method to adapt for your firm. 🤝 Providing suggestions for positioning + discussing estate planning as an offering to your clients. And ofc, all of these suggestions are based on the latest Kitces.com research from the 2025 AdvisorTech Study (read that, too, if you haven't already!). You know where to find Tenenbaum and Haughton's article👇

Mark Heynen 🎒 recently asked Matt Morris if "it's too risky to deal with a bootstrapped company" (EncorEstate Plans is proudly bootstrapped 💪😎). Here's what Matt had to say: "We embrace it and maybe there's some in the enterprise space that don't appreciate that. But man, I have found the experience of most advisors when we tell them that story, we're profitable, right? And so we're funding our own growth. But when we tell advisors that priority to us, that we've lived the experience of having a first customer that was venture and then investors, that we had to drive for what they wanted, and especially when it's a short-term kind of engagement, that they have an exit they want and it's coming fast and are you gonna hit this number? How are we gonna maximize or get every penny out of financial advisors we can get? [Advisors have] lived and seen that play out in ways that they had platforms they loved, that they turned out not loving. When that platform went to squeeze them for everything that venture and private equity could get out of them and with a short-term mindset and approach. And so when we share, '𝗪𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲. 𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗲 𝗴𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸, 𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆. 𝗪𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂.' And they really appreciate that story. And those who don't [get it], don't. And that's okay. We know who we are and we run with who we are and you like us or you don't, but there's no shortage of those who do." If you're looking for a hilarious podcast for your drive and or workout, go listen to Mark Heynen 🎒 and James Cantwell 🎯's latest AI for Advisors podcast episode with Matt and Mike. We're 100,010% biased here, but the episode truly is a good laugh with good, thought-provoking discussions 👇

ChatGPT can now pass the CFA Level III exam (Big Test Prep in shambles 🤣), but it still can't answer estate planning questions that well! Griffin Kelly's latest piece in The Daily Upside is a great, pithy (and spot-on, as always) job showcasing what AI can and can't do when it comes to financial planning (article in comments 👇) To paraphrase Mastercard, there are some things AI can do well, but for everything else, there are advisors 💚 😎 Breaking down winners + losers from the two recent studies showcasing AI chatbots' abilities: 𝗟𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 - Big Test Prep (how they gonna lobby Congress now?! 🤣) - Clients wrt estate planning (unless they have a financial advisor and or estate planning attorney shepherding them!) 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 - Advisors - Clients wrt financial analysis

When the Kitces.com team (esp. Jonathan Dursteler, CFP®, CRPS® 😎 ) makes a recommendation, it's a very good idea to take heed! Especially when it could make your XYPN Live booth signage better 🤣 👏 Jonathan had the hilarious (and spot-on!) suggestion to change our booth signage headline to "𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱!" And Dr. Rodney Mogen D.B.A. of BC Brokerage had the equally hilarious quip, "Estate plans are out of date as soon as you sign them!" (cc Matt Morris, we might need to update our signage again 😂 )

How to show your clients what happens when they don't get their estate plans signed, notarized, and funded: ==== Follow EncorEstate Plans for estate planning memes, and all things estate planning for advisors 😎 Get a deep-dive conversation w/ Encore here: encorestateplans.com/demo